My dear wife showed this to me . . . I got a kick out of it and figured you guys would too.
As well Haveil Havalim 254: Tu B’Shevat Edition is up!
Technorati Tags: iPad, Apple, Technology, Links, Haveil Havalim
5 hours ago
Sunday, January 31, 2010
iPad shmiPad
My dear wife showed this to me . . . I got a kick out of it and figured you guys would too.
As well Haveil Havalim 254: Tu B’Shevat Edition is up!
Technorati Tags: iPad, Apple, Technology, Links, Haveil Havalim
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Picture of the Week 93 - Murder Inc. Edition
My friend Raps was kind enough to share this photo with us.
The bochur on the left is his great-grand father posing with cheider friends Meyer Lanksy and Bugsy Siegel - a third friend, Philip "Little Farvel" Kovolick is not pictured.
Everyone should have a great Shabbos Shira!
Technorati Tags: Jewish History, Murder Inc, Mafia, Picture of the Week
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Weird Sign Wednesday III -The Mazal Tov to Bloggers Edition
This sign presupposes that
a. There is a towel with which I have a special relationship, rather than a stack of nameless, faceless paper towels. What is this? The Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy?
b. The next customer prefers a dry basin. Is there anybody out there who minds washing his or her hands over a wet basin? For whom are we doing a favor?
Send in your own Weird Sign . . . mordechai7215 at gmail dot com
I'd like to take a moment and wish a mazal tov to our fellow bloggers Cheerio and Sebastian . . . binyan adei ad, a chasidishe shtub meyusod al hatorah k'fi sh'hi meura al pi toras hachassidus etc.
Finally a plea from the heart.
To all of my friends (and enemies) if you have twitter PLEASE take a moment and vote for @lubavitch in #nonprofit!
PLEASE - do me a favor and help my work. It takes a second.
Just follow the link (and don't forget to write a reason for voting)
PLEASE
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Weekly Riddle 20
This poem is a bit of toughy, so I'm putting it at 20 points.
Thin as string and strong as steel,
I make my house like a wheel.
To some a home, to others doom,
I will build it when you leave your room.
What am I?
As well I'll give out 7 points to the 5th, 10th, and 15th people to post a comment.
There are 10 points for the first person to write the first 10 elements of the Periodic Table.
As well, I'll give 3 points to anyone who writes his last name - however, if they misspell his last name, then he'll loose 3 points for each letter of said misspelled name.
Enjoy!
Image from the Life Image Archive
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Weird Sign Wednesday II
Based on E's sage advice, Weird Sign Tuesday has been moved to Weird Sign Wednesday.
Anyhow - on to this sign:
The Rasta who puts these signs up on my block looks like Charlie Button's Jamaican brother from another mother . . .
Technorati Tags: Crown Heiights, New York, Rastas, Weird Signs
Monday, January 18, 2010
Of Ivy League Towns and Good Beer
A few weeks back we went to Ithaca for a Shabbos. In addition to being home to Cornell University, a bunch of waterfalls, the Finger Lakes, and the site of my wedding, the small town in upstate New York also has a dern good brewery.
Join me by clicking on the link . . .
In the tap room for tasting.
Boxes ready for shipping in the front storage room
Just like the winery days
Casks aging some yummy brews.
Kegs ready to ship of to the kretchmes
Technorati Tags: Ithaca, New York, Photography, Travel, Beer, Microbrews
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Weekly Riddle 19: Something Different
This weeks riddle is in a different style - While old school riddles will be standby, tell me what you think of this one.
Sunset on the Sixth:
11 10 10
Sunrise on the Seventh:
11 11 11
This riddle is worth 10 points! I'll give 5 points to any unique and interesting answers that aren't right as well.
I'm also throwing out 20 points for each person that Tweets "I nominate @lubavitch for #nonprofit in the #shortyawards because they use web 2.0 for good things! http://bit.ly/shorty"
and if you consider yourself my friend, then take an additional 5 points just because I love you!
Technorati Tags: Weekly Riddle, Rebbe, Chabad, Twitter
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Weird Sign Tuesday: The Inaugural Edition
I'm starting a news weekly series of signs and posters I've seen around New York . . . and the world. They've been chosen either because they're funny, ironic, or just weird.
Let me know what you think, and send me some of your own (mordechai7215 at gmail dot com) and we'll get things going!
Of note, most of these were taken on my cell phone's camera - so please excuse their quality (especially those taken with the Treo 700) - Enjoy!
This sign appeared one day on the Kolel wall during the summer. It says in
Yiddish "איך זיך א מיידל אדער א ווייבל וואס [ווילט] א
JOB
"ביטס ריפן
- I'm looking for a girl or a woman that [wants] a JOB. Please call . . .
Creepy!
------
As well - the Shorty Awards are open for Nominations now! Please Please Please if you have a Twitter account - even if you don't use it actively - do me a favor and Tweet:
I nominate @lubavitch for a Shorty Award in #nonprofit because they do awesome stuff in the Jewish Social Media scene!or go to their site and vote for my work in the #nonprofit category - just make sure to give a reason after 'because ...' or the vote won't count.
These are the Academy Awards of Twitter (yes - it sounds ridicules . . . and it is - but this is big stuff) and help from my friends goes a long way.
Technorati Tags: Weird Signs, Yiddish, Humor, Jewish, Creepy, Twitter, Social Media, Shorty Awards
Monday, January 11, 2010
Lessons from a Table
A Chassidisher Ma'aseh
The first table shown to them was gorgeous - it was hand crafted with mahogany wood, inlaid with ebony and the like . . . When Chonya asked for the price, however, he was told it cost 10,000 Rubbles. Such a sum was more then he'd ever make in a year, and far too much to spend on a table.
'Well' said the salesman. 'If that one's too much for you, then I can show you something that's very similar - but on at a better price.
Shown the next table in the showroom, Chunya looked at the second table. Seemingly it was just as nice as the previous table.
'This table,' said the salesman. 'Is only 5,000 Rubbles.'
Why was it so much cheaper? There was a scratch on the bottom of the table that ,slight and unabtrusive as it was, devaluation the table by half.
Though the table was half price, however, it was still beyond the young couples' means.
The salesman took them to another, far simpler, table. This one only cost 300 rubbles.
Far cheaper then the previous two, it was still more then Chonya wanted to spend,
"Do you have this table with a scratch?" Chonya asked optimistically.
"No." Laughed the salesman. "This table is made of simple pine. A scratch will not affect its value."
Unable to buy any of the tables, the Morozovs left.
Though table-less, the young Chonya took a lesson from experience:
A tammim is like a fine table - he's worth a lot, but even the smallest scratch can devalue him. A misnaged is like the other table - mit a kratz, un a kratz, er iz alamal di zelbe (with or without a scratch, he's worth the same.)
But a tammim - even a scratched one - is always worth more then a misnagid.
Technorati Tags: Chabad, Farbrengen, Misnagdim, Stories, Temmimim, marriage
Friday, January 08, 2010
Picture of the Week 92: 3 minutes after Lichtzen Edition
Grand Army Plaza - during the Summer
A special Mazal Tov to Kvetching Editor and Schnit on their engagement!
Good Shabbos y'all!
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
A Life Gone Meta
For those of you in the know, I play a game, as it were, called FourSquare.
It's something hard to explain (though perhaps this article will help), but in short it's part location based social network - allowing people to 'checkin' and let their friends know where they are - and part game.
Checkins, you see, gain points. Checking into a new local earns a special explorer's bonus, and multiple checkins in the same location over a period of time makes you the mayor of the site (provided you remain number one), and performing certain tasks earn 'badges' (checking into a play with a gym gets you the Gym Rat badge etc). Points are tallied up on a leaderboard that gets cleared up the start of every week.
On a deeper level, the competitive element adds a certain social challenge to one's daily schedule. I find myself planning my trips around finding new place (more on that later). What is more, players can add hints, tips and to-dos tied to the place. Thus, checking into Mendy's here in Crown Heights will show you my tip from the summer about getting the 'Recession Busters' specials. It adds a rather interesting meta-layer to the urban sprawl.
The competition element, as well as the speci
al deals that store owners may give to mayors haven't really caught on in the Frum World (a free drink in Crown Heights? That'll be the day) - though I have battled it out for a few select locals - so over all I've kept my checkins rather low-key. How many times a day does one really need to check into 1414 and 770 already.A few weeks ago, however, I decided to really run Foursquare to its fullest, and check into every place I stopped by. So, on a rather chilly day I decided instead of taking the train to the Citi-bank in Parkslope, I figured I'd get a little exercise.
First checkin - Eastern Parkway Malls. A stop off at Bank of America to get cash, and then down the parkway I went. Towards the Brooklyn Museum (where I hung out by the fountains and step/bentches for a moment - and checked in) is a small park that everyone seems to pass up. Looking for a sign, I found learned it was called the Dr. Ronald McNair Park - but saw that it hadn't yet been added - so I put in a new entry for the place and checked in . . . The trip took me an hour and a half, I ended up checking into 13 different places (scoring back the mayor-ship of of Grand Army Plaza while I was at it), and put me in first place on the Leaderboard.
I was pretty psyched.
By the end of the evening, however, I'd slipped down to the top 5, and once the Weekend flurry came around (with no checkins for me on Shabbos obviously), I was pushed down to 18th place in the city with 'only' 499 points scored through 71 different checkins. The leader? 4568 points with 264 checkins. Come again?
I learned a number of things from the experiment: Either the first place guy must have been doings some fishy checkins . . . or he's one serious urban explorer! However, and more importantly, it helped draw into focus the various landmarks and places in Brooklyn, and the city at large. Places I didn't even know existed seemed to pop out - have you guys ever heard of Mount Prospect Park? It's wedged between the Botanical Gardens and the Library.
Now that the Palm PRE app has come out, all I need them to make is a Kosha Boy badge for checking into kosher restaurants and I'm set . . . that and perhaps a bonus for being mayor of Kolel would be nice. :)
Technorati Tags: Social Media, Foursquare, Brooklyn, Crown Heights, New York, Games, Life, Thoughts
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Still around.
In the mean time, check out some of the articles I've been doing
A Jewish Community Grows In Cabo San Lucas
Chabad Representatives Near Auschwitz Say Interest in Polish Jewish Life Strong
I have a few posts up my sleeves for this week - so check back again!
domeforc ctg 4fe fgref
What has wings but can not fly?
42
In the mean time, check out some of the articles I've been doing
A Jewish Community Grows In Cabo San Lucas
Chabad Representatives Near Auschwitz Say Interest in Polish Jewish Life Strong
I have a few posts up my sleeves for this week - so check back again!
domeforc ctg 4fe fgref
What has wings but can not fly?
42
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